A group that includes William Bud Dashiell, founder of the former United Security Bank, has filed papers to launch a new bank to be called United Community Bank, which has plans to open branches initially in the Suncrest area northwest of Spokane and in Chewelah, Wash.


Dashiell says organizers have filed applications with the Washington state Department of Financial Institutions and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for a charter for the new bank. He says he expects that regulatory process to take up to four months, and that United Community Bank hopes to open the first two branches simultaneously next year.


The banks main branch would be located in Chewelah, at the intersection of Fourth and Main streets, while the other branch would be constructed at Swenson Road and state Route 291, southeast of a shopping center called the Suncrest Outpost, says Dashiell.


Dashiell, who will be a principal and board member of the bank but wont be active in its day-to-day management, says organizers are considering a number of other possible locations for an additional six to seven branches in rural towns in Pend Oreille, Ferry, and Stevens counties, as well as in Deer Park in north Spokane County.


He says they hope to start a bank that will be large enough to serve the needs of rural communities but keep its roots in those small communities.


The big banks are too busy with the areas that are prime to them, Dashiell says. To that end, he says the bank organizers have decided not to open any branches in larger population centers, such as Spokane.


Our whole thought process is in giving some service which is not happening in the communities at this time. We feel theres a place for another bank here, Dashiell says.


He says the bank has secured the option to buy the Chewelah property from the city. The site currently is used as a parking lot. The bank will lease ground for its Suncrest-area bank, on part of a site that also is slated for a Zips Drive-In restaurant, but will build its own branch there. After about a year of operations in the initial two locations, the company plans to open a branch in Colville, Dashiell says.


He says the bank selected the Suncrest area as one of the first branch locations based on information from a survey conducted by Stevens County in which residents there identified banking and medical-care services as priorities for their community.


Dashiell founded United Security Bank in Chewelah in 1974, and retired as CEO of what is now AmericanWest Bancorp. He resigned as the bank holding companys chairman in 1999, saying that the bank had undergone changes that didnt fit with his long-term goals for the company.


Dashiell says the bank has selected a president, whom he declines to name, and that Wendy Regan, of Chewelah, is slated to be the banks chief operating officer.


Dashiell says the planned banks application materials identify a preliminary board of about 10 people from around Stevens, Ferry, and Pend Oreille counties. He says it proved to be relatively easy to get commitments from potential shareholders to satisfy the requirements to file as a subchapter S corporation.


Contact Jeanne Gustafson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at [email protected].